ANCHORAGE – The Alaska Forum, Inc. will receive $200,000 in Brownfields grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to train and place students in environmental jobs. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the award today at the Alaska Forum on the Environment in Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska Forum is among 19 organizations selected to receive a total of $3,797,102 in grants for job training programs across the country.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a better America and that means new, good-paying jobs. The Brownfields Job Training grants announced today will prepare over 1,000 individuals for new environmental jobs like those,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This program will directly impact people’s lives, boosting the environmental workforce while helping to transform communities that need it the most.”
Alaska Forum, Inc. will use Brownfields Job Training funding to train 90 students and place at least 40 in environmental jobs. The training program includes 90 hours of environmental skills instruction, including 40 hour HAZWOPER safety training, basic firefighting, home fuel tank inspection, and hazardous materials. Students who complete the training will earn up to five state certifications and 23 federal certifications. Alaska Forum is offering this training program to unemployed, underemployed, and low-income minority students across the state.
Funded through the Agency’s Brownfields Job Training Program, these grants provide funding to organizations that are working to create a skilled workforce in communities where assessment, cleanup, and preparation of brownfield sites for reuse activities are taking place. Individuals completing a job training program funded by EPA often overcome a variety of barriers to employment. Many of these individuals are from historically underserved neighborhoods and reside in the areas affected by environmental justice issues.
Rather than filling local jobs with contractors from distant cities, these organizations provide training and offer residents of communities historically affected by environmental pollution, economic disinvestment, and brownfields an opportunity to gain the skills and certifications needed to secure local environmental work in their communities. Individuals typically graduate with a variety of certifications that improve their marketability and help ensure that employment opportunities are not just temporary contractual work, but long-term careers. This includes certifications in lead and asbestos abatement, hazardous waste operations and emergency response, environmental sampling and analysis, and other environmental health and safety training.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) invests more than $1.5 billion through EPA’s brownfields program. Of that investment, $30 million will be invested into future Brownfields Job Training grants. During the next five years, communities, states, and tribes will have the opportunity to apply for larger grants to include and enhance the environmental curriculum in existing job training programs. This investment will help trained individuals access jobs created through brownfields revitalization activities within their communities. EPA anticipates awarding as many as 50 additional grants to job training entities with BIL funding, beginning in fiscal year 2023. Application guidelines will be available in Spring/Summer 2022.
Since this program began in 1998, the Brownfields Job Training Program has awarded more than 352 grants. More than 19,456 individuals have completed training, and of those, more than 14,560 individuals have been placed in full-time employment in careers related to remediation and environmental health and safety. The average starting wage for these individuals is over $14 an hour.
For more information on Brownfields Job Training grants, and other Brownfields funding, visit: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-job-training-jt-grants.
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